


Astraphobia

by nebulaesailor



Series: Phobias [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brother Feels, Brother-Sister Relationships, Family Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Thunderstorms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 22:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18291074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nebulaesailor/pseuds/nebulaesailor
Summary: Forced to go back to their own time, Chara has to face their fear of thunderstorms alone without the help of their partner Leo.





	Astraphobia

**Author's Note:**

> There is a huge lack of platonic Grovyle and Hero. I've always headcanoned that Grovyle acted like the hero's older brother and guardian as they found the hero as a young child.
> 
> Chara: 15  
> Grovyle: 27

Chara’s long fur stood on end as the sound of distant but still close enough thunder shook the small house. They pulled the blanket over their head and quivered under their bedding in anticipation for the next strike. They had literally gone through hell and back to save the world from paralysis, facing certain death in many horrible scenarios that still came back to them in her dreams. Yet the thing that seemed to scare them the most was storms. How pathetic.

The room was illuminated with a bright strike of lightning which made the vulpix repress a scream from escaping their lips. They wished Leo was here but he was in the past while they were stuck here in the future. He couldn’t go back to the future with them; this was somewhere he couldn’t follow. They had no choice but to return to their own time with Grovyle and now they must suffer the consequences.

Leo was the only one to understand or even know of their fear and they would loathe to admit it to any of the older pokemon around them as they would probably think of them as childish. It didn’t help they were the baby of the group, Grovyle’s baby sibling who in the past had to be protected because they had no way of defending themself. They more often than not still treated them like a child even though they were quite capable of caring for themself. 

Well at least most of the time, now they could barely find it within themself to pull the blanket over their head. All they wanted to do was to be held by their partner. To have him run his finger through their ruddy brown fur and tell them everything was going to be okay. To have him distract them with the adventure stories he had read and knew word for word or to sing old folk songs he had learned from his long deceased mother. They wanted to sleep beside him and feel the soft crackle of the static electricity building within his fur. But they couldn’t have that. No, that was impossible.

But who else could they turn to? Tears came to their eyes as they bit down on their tongue to prevent themselves from crying out in fear. This wasn’t something they could do on their own. Ashamed of their cowardice but not above seeking some respite from the terror they felt, they shuffled through the darkness of their small room towards the door and into the hall. With the blanket still draped over their head like a hood, they swore they must’ve looked like a ghost in the pale moonlight as they opened the door to the room down the hall from theirs. The floorboards creaked under their paws which made them cringe, trying desperate to not wake the inhabitant of the room while they padded towards their bed. 

They curled up on the edge of the straw mattress to avoid touching the person sleeping soundly beside them despite the fact they took up nearly the entire mattress. They hoped just by being next to them that it would enough to soothe the anxiety that made their stomach feel as if it was filled with butterfree and they could finally get some sleep. This was quickly shattered when the closest strike of lightning hit without warning and they screamed in terror. 

“Chara?!” Grovyle shot up from his bed, awakening by the scream of his little sibling who was cowering and sobbing with their paws tightly covering their ears.

He furrowed his brow as he reached out to place a soothing hand on their back only to have them violently flinch away from his touch and whimper. With a sigh, he gathered them up and held them in his arms while they let out horrible ragged sobs which verged on hyperventilation. 

“Chara, look at me. I need you to calm down and look at me.” He tried to speak as calmly as he could in the current situation, Chara’s wild eyes flickered to his reluctantly which seemed to have slightly ease the panic they were in.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong?” He asked them and they violently shook their head, he nodded solemnly and stroked their fur in an attempt to calm them down. 

It took awhile for their breathing to return to normal all the while they had pressed their small body against his chest all the while they whimpered and flinched at the sound of every thunder crack. He had never seen the vulpix in so much fear even when they were literal fugitives running for their lives. It was even more baffling considering that this entire episode had been triggered by thunder of all things. This was Chara we were talking about not some wet-nosed toddler. It wasn’t until the thunder had stopped and all that could be heard was the loud patter of raindrops on the roof of the house that Chara finally relaxed from the rigid curled ball they had formed while hiding against Grovyle's chest.

“I’m sorry I woke you up.” They rasped,their throat raw from screaming.

“I think a panic attack is a good reason to wake someone up. I’m sure you must be parched from crying for a solid hour, do you want some tea like old times?” He asked them as they nodded demurely as he got up from the bed and walk towards the kitchen with Chara tucked snuggly under his arm.

He filled a kettle with water and placed it over the fire pit, sitting down in front of the smouldering fire waiting for it to boil with Chara sprawled out on his lap. He absentmindedly ran his fingers through the thick red curls of their forelocks, he could make out the soft purring coming from them which made him feel a little more at ease. Once the water was ready, he poured the water into the mugs and added a tea bag to each with a liberal amount of honey in Chara’s as it would help their sore throat. The mug was placed into their awaiting paws as they leaned against his belly and took a swig of the herbal blend with the knowledge that it would knock them out like a light. It was how Grovyle got them to sleep as a child when their nightmares were at their worst. He still knew the exact recipe after all these years.

“I almost drowned in the ocean during the storm when I first arrived in the past. No matter how much I fought against it, it still pulled me to point I thought I would drown. I remember being slammed against the rocks on the shore and my skull cracking open like an egg. For a long time all could hear was the rain and thunder in my ears even after I blacked out.” They took another glup of the tea as a few tears slide down the well established tear tracks on their furry cheeks. 

“Dear lord...” Grovyle choked back a sob as it broke his heart all over again to learn the sheer amount trauma Chara had underwent all in the name of saving the world. It shouldn’t have been on their shoulders in the first place, they were a goddamn child for Arceus's sake. 

“I didn’t want to tell you. I thought you might thought of me as weak or silly. I know it’s dumb to be afraid of storms especially at my age but it’s something I can’t shake.” They set the empty mug down on the ground and laid their aching head back down his leg as the sleep seeds in the tea were starting to take effect.

“Chara, I wish you would tell me things. I don’t think any less of you because of your fear though it saddens me greatly that you think you can’t trust me. I want to be there for you. I wasn’t there when you needed me the most and it still haunts me. So please ask for help when you need it because everyone here loves you alot and dosn’t want you to suffer in silence.” He told them as he placed a firm but loving hand on their back as more tears started to run down their cheeks.

“I’m sorry.” They whispered as Grovyle pulled them into a hug, tucking their head under his muzzle as he swayed like a tree in the wind.

“You don’t need to be sorry. Remember, Chara, you are allowed to feel scared. You don’t need to be brave all the time. Even I feel scared sometimes.” They looked up at him in disbelief and confusion which made him chuckle.

“Of what?” He sighed and got up off of the floor with Chara in his arms as exhaustion was starting to weigh on him too. 

“Of losing you and Celebi, even Dusknoir. Of being alone again and weak. The dark.” He replied as he walked towards his room and collapsed on the bed. 

“The dark?” They echoed and he nodded, shifting onto his side as Chara curled up again his chest.

“Yes, the dark. I spent nearly my entire life in darkness and I still fear that one day the sun won’t rise and I’ll be plunged back into that never ending darkness. It’s something that will probably never go away fully.” He tucked the blankets around them as Chara was left to digest the fact that their stoic and unfaltering guardian and friend in fact felt fear. 

“Huh.” Was all they said as the full weight of the sedatives pulled them under, the act of just keeping their eyes open was difficult. 

“Everyone feels fear, Chara. After all it was fear that drove Dialga and Dusknoir to paralysis the planet. Even the gods feel it.” He let out a sigh and hoped this was getting through to them even when they were semi comatose. 

“Grovyle, I love you.” They whispered as sleep finally claimed them and Grovyle nuzzled them with his snout.

“I love you too, Chara.”

**Author's Note:**

> Grovyle is actually a softy at heart. ;P


End file.
